“I”s on the World: Monumental Reunion

Illini friends Deborah Erb (left) and Sununta Siengthai (right) are all smiles in front of a temple in Bangkok, Thailand. (Image courtesy of Deborah Erb)

Oh, the places we go … University of Illinois alumni are globetrotters who travel near and far, but never forget their Alma Mater!

Separated by 9,000 miles and three decades of time,Deborah Lowenstein Erb, MA ’80LER, and Sununta Siengthai, MA ’79 LER, PHD ’84 LER, were finally reunited in Thailand last October. After corresponding with one another for 35 years with hopes of meeting again, the graduate school friends spent time together in Siengthai’s homeland. Deborah and her husband, John, enjoyed a tour of Bangkok, courtesy of Siengthai, as the two alumnae shared memories from their days in Urbana-Champaign. It was “a dream-come-true reunion,” Erb says.